


A Bed in Beaufort

by jaicubed



Category: Youtubers
Genre: Grethan, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-27
Updated: 2018-03-27
Packaged: 2019-04-13 12:46:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14112645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaicubed/pseuds/jaicubed
Summary: Grayson can't sleep without Ethan. This becomes a problem when they decide to spend a month at their grandmother's house in South Carolina.





	1. Chapter 1

They called it the almost-beach house because it was on the beach...almost. They could see it from the house, sort of. Sometimes.

It was ancient, this house. At least to Ethan and Grayson, who were used to the crisp modernity of LA and New York. It was a Victorian, staggeringly large, dark green with even darker trim, six bedrooms and a tiny little staircase that led to the old servants' quarters.

 _Servants' quarters_. Jesus.

They'd been there about thirty minutes, and Ethan was still getting used to the smell. It wasn't musty or anything- fuck, his grandma had put a lot of money into modernizing the house, updating the electric and plumbing, re-doing the entire kitchen too- but it still smelled weird.

Maybe it was in the floorboards or something.

Grayson and Ethan were sitting in said modernized kitchen, wolfing down a plate of cheese and crackers that their grandmother had placed in front of them on the granite countertop. They'd been driving for over twelve hours, taking turns doing three hour shifts, and neither of them wanted to see the inside of the BMW for at least another month. Maybe a year.

"Beaufort's a nice city," their grandmother said, leaning back against the counter and smiling. "I'm sure you'll find plenty of interesting places and people to film."

"Not until we explore every inch of this house," Ethan said, his mouth full of food. Grayson grimaced as pieces of chewed cracker landed on his arm. "I bet if we look in all the nooks and crannies, we'll find skeletons or something."

"I think if there were skeletons, your sister would have found them by now. She's been digging through things like you wouldn't believe."

"That sounds like Cameron," Grayson replied. "Where is she, anyway?"

"At the beach with your cousin."

Before Grayson could reply, a man he'd never seen before strolled into the kitchen, tipping his hat to their grandmother before heading out the door.

"That's one of my guests," she explained, seeing the shocked looks on the boys' faces. "You remember I do Air BnB, right? The two bedrooms on the third floor are all taken right now, and they're usually filled up through the summer."

"But where are we gonna sleep?" Ethan asked, and Grayson elbowed him in the ribs.

"Stop being rude."

Their grandmother chuckled. "This house is big enough for everyone, don't you worry. The second floor has four bedrooms- one for me, one for Cameron, and one for each of you."

"Each of us?" Ethan repeated. His eyes flicked quickly to Grayson. "But what about David?"

"He's leaving tonight. Already packed up. As soon as he gets back from the beach with Cameron, he'll be heading out."

"Oh." Grayson could feel a small seed of anxiety plant itself in his gut.

"Don't be too upset, sweetie. You'll be here for a month, and David only lives in Augusta. You'll see him."

Grayson nodded, glad that she'd taken his slightly disturbed facial expression as disappointment over his cousin's departure rather than something else.

But of course, she had no idea that he couldn't sleep without Ethan.

"Would you like to see your rooms?" she asked, picking up the empty plate of snacks. Ethan looked forlornly at it, and she nodded towards a basket of apples on the breakfast table. 

"Sure," Grayson answered, rolling his eyes as Ethan took three apples and shoved one in his mouth right away, taking a bite big enough for a horse.

They grabbed their bags and followed her up the stairs. The wood creaked beneath their feet and Grayson was pretty sure he'd walked into a cobweb. She stopped at a door a few feet from the landing.

"This is the room I'd set up for you two initially, before I knew David was heading out early." They peered into the room, which was painted a cheerful light green. There were two twin beds on opposite sides of the room, a dresser with a TV on top, and a desk. It was sparsely decorated, unlike the rest of the house, which was littered with antiques.

She lead them to the other end of the hallway. "This is David's room. It's smaller than the other, but the bed is bigger. I'll let you two fight over who gets this room."

The rest of the room was nothing special, but the bed was truly fantastic. Queen-sized, with an expensive mattress and a carved wooden headboard. Grayson wanted that bed. He needed it, to be honest.

"Grayson can have this room," Ethan said. "He'll ruin our vacation if he doesn't get his beauty sleep."

He winked at his grandmother and she chuckled, turning to lead them towards the bathroom. Ethan gave Grayson a quick look, and Grayson gave him a small smile.

Grayson had sleep problems. Actually, he had anxiety problems, and sleep problems were a very real and annoying symptom.

He'd slept in Ethan's bed on and off for most of his teenage years, realizing early on that Ethan's presence in the bed made the panic and the worrying evaporate. And for all Ethan was annoying as fuck every other part of the day, he never complained when Grayson pushed him over and crawled in next to him.

Well, except on Snapchat. But that was for the fans' benefit.

When they'd moved to the warehouse, Grayson had set up his own room. He'd been feeling much better, and even though he still  _wanted_  to sleep in Ethan's bed (and this was something that he chose not to examine) he didn't  _need_  to.

But as the months passed, and things got more stressful and he felt his mental health plummeting once again, he found himself back in Ethan's bed. It was easy, at the warehouse. It was easy in New Jersey too, since they shared a room, and the beds were big enough to fit two of them.

This was a different story. He barely listened to his grandmother explain how to use the fancy shower and the bidet (a bidet!), so caught up in just how the fuck he was going to sleep in this house for a month by himself.

"Cameron's in between you two, and I'm on the other end, here," she said, pointing towards the east side of the house. "You two take your time settling in. There's a sitting room on the third floor that you're welcome to use, so you can go up there and take a look if you'd like. I'll call you when dinner's ready."

"Thanks, grandma," they said in unison, and she smiled warmly at them.

"Glad you boys are here. I hope you have a nice time."

She glided back down the stairs, and Ethan grabbed his bag and headed into the twin bed room.

Grayson followed him out of force of habit, sitting on the bed and putting his head in his hands.

At first, they hadn't talked about the resumed bed-sharing. But when it became regular- and it had over the past few months- Ethan had finally confronted the elephant in the room.

"If you're gonna sleep in my fucking bed, at least get one of those nose strips to keep you from snoring," Ethan had said irritably, punching Grayson in the bicep one morning. Grayson had slept great. Ethan...not so much.

"Do you think they work?" Grayson had asked dubiously. 

"Well, your alternative is me smothering you in your sleep, so it's worth a shot."

The nose strips worked.

After that, any lingering awkwardness that had remained was gone. There was a shift in the universe. Ethan's bed became  _their_  bed, something that had never happened even when they'd shared as younger teens. Grayson didn't make promises like he had before- that this was the last night, that it wouldn't happen anymore. They were way past that.

This vacation to Beaufort, South Carolina had been hastily planned, but they were truly excited for it. After their grandfather had died, their grandmother had moved from New Jersey down south. She'd fallen in love with the house and had bought it outright, and then had spent the next year fixing it up. They were happy to see her, happy that Cameron was able to join them. Happy that they had new places to film, happy that they were on the ocean.

But at the time, Grayson had expected they'd be sharing a room.

The sleep he got with Ethan was restorative. It was deep. He barely dreamed. He woke up refreshed. His skin was better, his hair was thicker. He could work out harder, run faster.

He couldn't go back to pre-Ethan sleep. When it was a calmer night, he'd lay in bed for hours, so tired but unable to fall asleep. When it was a bad night, he'd lay in bed, his chest tight, so tight that it felt like he was having a heart attack. And he'd worry, his mind racing from one bad thing to the next, until terror choked him and he started to actually panic.

He knew there were other solutions- natural remedies, meditation,  _therapy_ \- but the relief that Ethan provided was instantaneous. It was the most natural remedy there was.

"What am I going to do?" Grayson asked, falling back onto the bed. 

Ethan unzipped his bag and started pulling out his clothes. He didn't need to ask what Grayson meant.

The most obvious solution was simply to tell their grandmother that they would prefer to share a room. But unlike their parents, who had accepted their codependency as a matter of course, their grandmother had seen things differently. She didn't  _say_  anything, but there was a feeling. A feeling that their closeness made her uncomfortable, and that made  _them_  uncomfortable.

It was out of the question.

"I'll keep my shit in here, keep one of the beds looking nice and slept in, and I'll come to your room at night," Ethan said breezily. "No problem."

"She'll hear you.  _Cameron_  will hear you." 

"Cameron knows you're batshit crazy," Ethan replied, and he gave Grayson a quick grin to assure him that he was joking. "She knows that you don't sleep well. She doesn't give a shit."

Cameron's easy acceptance of their bond- without jealousy, without judgment- was what made her a truly spectacular sister.

"But Grandma..."

"...will assume that we're going to piss," Ethan finished, waving him off. "I'll get up early enough to get back here in case she comes in to wake us up. Don't worry about it."

It struck Grayson then, how lucky he was. How Ethan could have used this as an opportunity to wean Grayson off the bed-sharing. But he didn't.

"Thanks," Grayson said, closing his eyes. It didn't convey the enormity of his gratitude, but it was good enough for now.


	2. Chapter 2

Despite them knowing it wouldn't be a really big deal, they still didn't advertise their sleeping arrangement to Cameron.

She found out the first night anyway.

Ethan shut the door slowly, wincing as it squeaked along the way. It was stupid, but he felt a strange thrill run through him, like he was doing something really bad- not just sneaking into his twin's brother room to sleep in his bed.

He crept a few feet along the hallway, trying to avoid creaky spots in the floor. He'd almost made it to Grayson's room when he heard Cameron's door open, and he froze, hoping that it was dark enough that he'd be hidden.

"Sneaking around in the middle of the night, hmm?" Cameron murmured. He could hear the smirk in her voice. "So romantic."

"Fuck off," he mumbled. She snorted and continued on to the bathroom, and Ethan sighed. 

When he shut the door behind him, Grayson looked up from his phone and frowned. "Why are you making that face?"

"Cameron saw me."

"Oh." Grayson considered this for a moment, and then he shrugged. "She was bound to find out anyway."

"Yeah."

Ethan crawled onto the other side of the bed, sliding under the covers. When he was horizontal and his head was on the pillow, he could feel, in his very bones, just how good of a fucking bed it was.

"Wow."

"I know," Grayson said. "It's pretty fantastic."

Grayson turned off his light and put his phone on the nightstand, making sure that the ringer was on.

"I set an alarm for five," Grayson said, shifting his body to get comfortable. "Do you think that's early enough?"

"If Grandma is up at five, then retirement is definitely not all it's cracked up to be," Ethan replied. Then he groaned. "Fuck, that's early.  _You're_  the one who can't sleep and I have to get up at the ass crack of dawn."

"Well, we can use your room, if you want..." Grayson said, suddenly guilty. It hadn't occurred to him when he set the alarm how much it would suck for Ethan to have to do this every morning.

"What, and push the beds together like we're in 'I Love Lucy'? That's not gonna work. And I guess this bed is worth the extra effort."

Ethan was right on both accounts. Just sleeping in the same room as Ethan wasn't enough at night, when the worrying was the worst. It was better than nothing, but it wasn't enough.

"I'm sorry."

"Shut up and go to sleep," Ethan grumbled, rolling over so his back was facing Grayson.

Grayson almost smiled. He closed his eyes.

****

Grayson hadn't heard the alarm go off, but he guessed Ethan had, because he wasn't in the bed when Grayson woke up.

It was strange, seeing Ethan's empty spot. At home, Grayson  _always_  woke up before Ethan. He felt a weird pang in his chest, like he was some girl who'd woken up to see her one night stand had left in the night without so much as a note.

Well, that was a thought he was never going to share with anyone ever.

Grayson dressed and groomed, not wanting to come upon any strange Air BnB guests in his pajamas. Cameron was already in the kitchen when he shuffled in, digging into an omelette.

"Morning, sweetie," his grandmother chirped. "Omelette or pancakes?"

"Have we met? Pancakes, of course," Grayson answered, taking a seat next to Cameron. She had a fork in one hand and her phone in the other, and she grinned evilly at Grayson.

"Look at this gem," she said lowly, opening up her camera roll. It was a picture of Grayson and Ethan in bed, sunlight just starting to filter in through the windows. It was dark, but one could clearly see Grayson pressed into Ethan's side, his limbs splayed awkwardly over Ethan's body.

"You're a freak," Grayson hissed, his cheeks turning red. "You woke up early just to take that? Snuck into our room?"

"I lost all of my cuddling photos of you guys when my phone got smashed back in March. I'm simply rebuilding my blackmail arsenal," Cameron said with a shrug, like this was a very normal thing that sisters did. "But this time, I'm uploading them to my laptop."

Grayson shook his head, and Cameron put her phone away quickly as their grandmother gave Grayson a plate of pancakes.

Ethan came down about thirty minutes later, his eyes zeroing in on the griddle. "Grandma. Pancakes. Now. Please."

She raised an eyebrow and grabbed an empty plate. "You boys sleep okay last night?"

Cameron nearly spat out her orange juice, covering her mouth just in time, her eyes shining with mirth. Grayson gave her a death glare before looking at his grandma, avoiding eye contact with Ethan.

"I slept great. How about you, Ethan?"

Ethan shrugged. "Can't complain."

He sat next to Grayson, swiping a finger through some leftover syrup on Grayson's plate and sticking it in his mouth.

"You're disgusting," Grayson said, pulling his plate away. 

"Thank you," Ethan replied, beaming.

****

The first week flew by. Between going to the beach, digging through the crap the previous owners had left in the attic (this week's video was going to be  _awesome_ ) and playing pranks on Cameron, they'd kept pretty busy.

Cameron had to go back to school for a summer internship, so she headed out on their seventh day. They helped her pack her car and were seeing her off when she rolled down the window and stuck out her head.

"There's a king-sized bed in the room I was in, you know," she said, nodding towards the house with a smirk. "Very spacious."

"Bye, Cameron!" Ethan said loudly, discreetly flipping her the bird. She gave them a salute.

"Later, losers."

The house was much calmer without Cameron there to antagonize them (and vice versa.) They'd gotten new Air BnB guests in the last couple of days, two middle-aged couples that knew each other. They only saw them at night, when they'd come home drunk on wine spritzers and Mai Tais. After one of the women stumbled down the hallway one night, thinking it was her floor, and propositioned Ethan near the bathroom, they kept their distance.

Grayson had moved into Cameron's old room (to her delight) and this significantly improved their arrangement, at least sleeping-wise. They realized early on that there was no need for sneaking around. Their grandma went to bed earlier than they did, and they could just hang out in Grayson's room until she fell asleep. But unfortunately, Ethan still had to get up every morning to go back to his room.

They stayed up late that night, looking at the comments people had posted on social media about their new video. Their viewers had loved seeing them go through the old stuff in the attic, so they decided to make a part two for next week's video. They started making tentative plans for the week after that, but called it a night at around two in the morning.

The following morning, Grayson heard Ethan's alarm go off for the first time.

It would have barely registered in Grayson's brain, had he not felt movement along with the steady beep of the alarm.

Grayson opened bleary eyes, unable to see much of anything except the glow of Ethan's cell phone. However, he could  _feel_  just fine- and he could feel that he was basically crushing half of Ethan's body.

Ethan was looking away, and Grayson, absolutely mortified, pretended to be asleep so he wouldn't have to suffer through an awkward exchange.

He expected Ethan to shove him off roughly, cursing all the way, but he didn't. He slid gingerly out from underneath Grayson, moving his arms and legs gently back onto the bed.

He watched Ethan stand and stretch, but he closed his eyes quickly when he saw Ethan's head start to turn. He felt Ethan's eyes on him, for a long time. He would have been weirded out by Ethan watching him sleep, except it felt strangely nice. Like he was taken care of, like someone cared about him.

He heard Ethan finally shuffle out of the room, the door clicking softly behind him. He fell back to sleep immediately.


End file.
